In Trinidad, East Indian indentees persisted in a centuries-old tradition of cannabis use from 1844 to the 1900s, when the custom virtually disappeared. Use became endemic among young black Trinidadians after 1969, as a result of a diffusion from America. At present, and increasing number of young East Indians have become users. The decline of the earlier 'cannabis complex' and the emergence of the present-day form among East Indians are related to the development of this population in a model which makes manifest the articulation between culture, material conditions and forms of social organization.